TPD@Scale Coalition launches 10-country research program led by FIT-ED and SUMMA that seeks to improve teacher practices across the Global South

Led by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) in the Philippines, and SUMMA, the Laboratory of Education Research and Innovation for Latin America and the Caribbean, with support from the International Research Development Centre (IDRC), the program envisions impacting over three million teachers and at least 50 million students.

Continuing its commitment to SDG4, the TPD@Scale Coalition for the Global South, led by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) in the Philippines and SUMMA, the Laboratory of Education Research and Innovation for Latin America and the Caribbean, with funding support from the International Research Development Centre (IDRC), launched the Empowering Teachers Initiative (ETI), a program that seeks to improve teacher practices in the Global South by improving equity, quality, and efficiency in TPD systems.

The launch was held in Kigali, Rwanda, with a first global meeting about “Scaling with Equity/ Educational Scaling/ Scaling for Equity” which brought together a global community of researchers and partners from 20 countries in all continents.

ETI is a 42-month program that intends to 1) understand how to effectively and efficiently scale quality TPD in the global south, 2) strengthen the capacity of in-country education stakeholders to scale quality TPD programs, and 3) contribute to evidence-informed policy and practices for inclusive and effective TPD.

It envisions impacting over three million teachers and at least 50 million students.

“We are thrilled to formally launch ETI following an intensive, year-long open, competitive search for research teams with the requisite technical expertise and local knowledge to generate evidence and meaningful insights on how TPD can be made available to all teachers equitably and efficiently without sacrificing quality,” stated Victoria Tinio, Executive Director of FIT-ED. “We’re supporting studies that reflect a diverse array of Global South contexts, education systems, and professional learning needs. We see great potential for co-learning and co-creation as we work hand in hand to build up the knowledge base in this under-researched field”.

Dante Castillo-Canales, Director of Innovative Policies and Practices in SUMMA, considered “the ETI program is a breakthrough in the way in which we research and develop Teacher Professional interventions. It is a promising space to build a community of researchers and stakeholders across the global south”.

Katie Bryant, Program Officer of the International Development Research Center (IDRC), meanwhile, commented that “research leaders and co-leaders delved into a variety of issues, such as continuing to build a scaling research community from the south and investigating issues of gender, equity and social inclusion in scaling research. Work done during this workshop will ensure ETI continues to make important contributions to improving equity, quality and efficiency in Teacher Professional Development systems in the Global South”.

The three-day first global meeting was an opportunity to bring together the research teams and start building a TPD@Scale research community, foster common knowledge of the project, create spaces for discussion, obtain a deepening understanding of the core concepts of quality, equity, and scaling within the project, and to reflect on how activities of the project will impact a broader audience, mobilize and develop new ideas, and strengthen networking.

Background

Teachers play a vital role in creating a stimulating learning environment that fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and a lifelong love for learning. As the Global South continues to face challenges such as large student-to-teacher ratios, limited resources, and inadequate education quality, access to high-quality teachers remains a barrier to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (quality education for all). Improvement of teacher professional development (TPD) is seen to enhance access to high-quality teachers.

ETI has awarded grants for country research projects in America, Africa and Asia: Argentina, Mexico, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia, which explore five themes:

• Adaptations in modality to increase equity in access and participation in large-scale TPD programs
• Adaptations in the form of quality mentorship, coaching, and tutoring within large-scale TPD programs
• Personalizing assessment of teacher learning in large-scale TPD programs with a focus on peer and self-assessment
• Scaling and sustaining teacher-driven models of professional collaboration
• Understanding localizations in large-scale TPD programs.

It will also provide research support for third party-funded country studies and will undertake complementary meta-studies and specialized research; conduct capacity strengthening activities at national, regional, and international levels; and organize policy and practice influencing events for government policy makers and decision makers, researchers, TPD designers and implementers, and other key stakeholders at sub-national, national, regional, and international levels.